The Russian Export Center and African Export–Import Bank (Afreximbank) will once again join forces with the Roscongress Foundation to organize events in the Russia–Africa format. The Russia–Africa Economic Forum, which will take place in Sochi on 23–24 October 2019, will build on discussions concerning Russian-African cooperation on the agenda of previous Russian events. Following a dialogue on the sidelines of the SPIEF 2019, the annual meeting of Afreximbank, and the Russia–Africa Economic Conference in Moscow, the first Russia–Africa Summit and Economic Forum will serve as the basis for the further development of collaboration between Russia and African countries.
The events in Sochi will be the largest-scale event in the history of Russian-African relations. They will be attended by more than 40 heads of African states and 3,000 participants, including representatives of business, political elites, and experts, who will get together on the sidelines of the Summit and Forum to identify key priorities for joint activities for years to come.
Russian Export Center CEO Andrey Slepnev commented on the upcoming Russia–Africa Economic Forum: “We can safely say that the Russian and African sides have extremely high expectations for the upcoming meeting. The Economic Forum in Sochi will definitely be an unprecedented event and essentially a new starting point for the further development of trade relations between Russia and Africa. Our shared responsibility as a host, and the REC is a co-organizer of the Forum, is to prepare for the event in such a way as to reach out to our African partners with concrete proposals and facilitate the conclusion of a number of successful export contracts”.
Slepnev said the Russian business world has had an opportunity to appreciate the huge potential of the African continent this year. At Russia’s invitation, Afreximbank held its annual shareholders meeting in Moscow this summer, the first time it has held such an event outside the African continent in seven years.
Afreximbank President Benedict Orama noted: “Over the past two decades, trade between Russia and Africa has increased by roughly thirteen-fold – from
Roscongress Foundation, USD 5 billion in 2001 to more than USD 20 billion in 2018. This impressive growth reflects both growing demand and the expanded geographical reach. Afreximbank works closely with the REC to inform Russian exporters and investors about opportunities on the African market. The events of the annual general meeting of the bank’s shareholders held this summer in Moscow are part of our efforts. The next milestone in this regard will be the Russian–African Summit held together with the Roscongress Foundation”.
The programme architecture of the Russia–Africa Economic Forum is available here.
The Roscongress Foundation is a socially oriented non-financial development institution and a major organizer of international conventions, exhibitions, and public events.
The Roscongress Foundation was founded in 2007 with the aim of facilitating the development of Russia’s economic potential, promoting its national interests, and strengthening the country’s image. One of the roles of the Foundation is to comprehensively evaluate, analyse, and cover issues on the Russian and global economic agendas. It also offers administrative services, provides promotional support for business projects and attracting investment, and helps foster social entrepreneurship and charitable initiatives.
The Foundation’s events draw more than 80,000 participants each year from 206 countries, with more than 10,000 media representatives working on-site at Roscongress’ various venues. The Foundation benefits from analytical and professional expertise provided by 2,500 people working in Russia and abroad. In addition, it works in close cooperation with economic partners from 93 countries worldwide.
www.roscongress.org